Pakistan-based hackers strike down IIT Delhi, AMU, DU websites; slur Indian Army role in Kashmir

A group that identified itself as "Pakistan Haxors Crew" on Tuesday hacked 10 official websites including four leading educational institutions of the country — Delhi University, Aligarh Muslim University, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-Delhi) and Indian Institute of Technology BHU with "Pakistan Zindabad" slogans displayed on them.

Screenshot of the hacked IIT Delhi website.

The group hurled abuses on the Indian Army soldiers deployed in Jammu and Kashmir claiming they have killed many innocent Kashmiris.

Other websites which have been hacked are University of Kota; Army Institute of Management and Technology, Greater Noida; Defence Institute of Advanced Technology; Army
Institute of Management, Kolkata, National Aerospace Laboratories and Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS).

"Greetings Government of India, and the people of India Do you know what your so called hero's (soldiers) are doing in Kashmir? Do you know they are killing many innocent Kashmiris? Do you know they have raped many girls? Do you know they still are raping girls in Kashmir? How would you feel if your brother, sister, father and mother gets killed:(? How would you feel if someone rapes your mother or sister; Won't your life and your families be destroyed? (sic)"

The hackers, suspected to be from Pakistan added, "People in Kashmir have the right to live in peace? Take your murderers and rapists back home!".

The hackers explained that the hack was a response to a similar attack on Pakistan's railway website. "This hack is in response to Code-Man's hack of railways.gov.pk," the message read.

The group also shared a YouTube video allegedly showing atrocities by the Indian soldiers. It ended with "Pakistan Zindabad".

The hacker group said, "nothing deleted or stolen. Just here to deliver my message to Indians."

Delhi University Registrar Tarun Das said, "The website was inaccessible from outside the campus for some time due to some problems in the domain name. Servers were pointing incorrectly to another site."

"The problem was detected and immediately rectified by contacting ERNET, which has provided the domain name for University of Delhi," he added.

The AMU spokesperson said that the matter has been brought to their notice and their IT department is looking into the issue.

The authorities at the two IITs could not be reached for comment.

The hacking comes amid students' unrest in the Kashmir Valley.

Last month, the website of the national child adoption body was hacked into allegedly by users from Pakistan who posted messages like "Pakistan Zindabad".

The website (http://www.cara.nic.in/) of the Child Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), a body under the Women and Child Development Ministry — remained defaced for some time.

"Website hacked by SH11. Pakistan Zindabad," the message posted on CARA's website had said. There was also an animation posted on the website.

CARA CEO Lt Col Deepak Kumar (Retd) hand then said that the IP address shows that the hacker was from Pakistan.

Although there wasn't any disruption in the services being provided, the website was immediately blocked by the National Informatics Centre, a statement issued by WCD had read.